Dr. Keykavous Parang

Professor

Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy; Chemistry, Schmid College of Science and Technology

Expertise: Anticancer Agents; Antibacterial Peptides; Drug Delivery; Medicinal Chemistry; Peptide Nanoparticles

Office Location: 9401 262

Phone: (714) 516-5489

Email: parang@chapman.edu

Scholarly Works:: Digital Commons

Education:: University of Tehran, Doctor of Pharmacy
University of Alberta, Ph.D.

Biography

Dr. Parang earned his Pharm.D. from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 1989 and completed his Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry at the University of Alberta, Canada, in 1997. Dr. Parang further pursued postdoctoral studies in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta and in bioorganic chemistry and pharmacology at Rockefeller University and Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Parang became a tenured associate professor in April 2006 and a full professor in July 2008 at the University of Rhode Island. He served as the Program Coordinator for the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) NIH program, which had a budget of $20 million for the 2012-2013 period, and successfully secured funding for an additional five years starting in 2014.

Dr. Parang served as Associate Dean of Research, Graduate Studies, and Global Affairs (June 2013-June 2020) and Associate Dean of Research, Innovation, and Global Affairs (June 2020-March 2022) at the School of Pharmacy. Dr. Parang developed two graduate programs, M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2014) and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2022, under his leadership, the Summer High School Program was launched. His leadership extended to establishing research infrastructure and core facilities. As a result of these efforts, the school was ranked 37th out of 140 pharmacy schools nationwide in the 2022 AACP rankings.

Dr. Parang has guided numerous faculty members and has supervised 25+ postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists. Additionally, he has mentored 30+ graduate students and 65+ undergraduate students.

Dr. Parang serves as an editorial board member or editorial advisory board of several journals, such as the Journal of Biological Chemistry (2025-2029), Molecules, and Frontiers in Nanotechnology. Dr. Parang has received numerous awards and honors, such as the Academy of Pharmacy Professionals (APP) Academic Excellence Award (2024), the Chapman University Million Dollar Club (2022), CUSP Culture Award: Diversity and Inclusion (2021), AIMS Award (2021), AACP Catalyst Program (Accelerating Research Leadership, 2017-2018), AACP Catalyst Program Fellowship (2017), AACP Teacher of the Year (2015).

Research Interests

Dr. Parang's research focuses on the intersection of chemistry and biology, particularly on medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, nanomedicine, and drug delivery. His work involves applying synthetic organic chemistry to biological challenges. Current research areas include: (1) Utilizing cyclic and hybrid cyclic-linear peptides for drug delivery; (2) Designing peptides with antibacterial and antifungal properties; (3) Developing multifunctional agents with antiviral, anticancer, and antibacterial activities; and (4) Creating inhibitors for protein tyrosine kinases.

Dr. Parang's contributions have resulted in several accomplishments, including 200+ peer-reviewed publications and 65+ invited oral presentations (March 26, 2025). His laboratory has been funded with $6.59 million from NIH, American Cancer Society, NSF, Industry, USAID-CONRAD, Kay Foundation, and many other funding agencies since October 2000.

Dr. Parang has been listed among the world's career top 2% of scientists as reported by Stanford University (September 16, 2024). His publications have been cited 9,800+ times, and his current h-index is 50 (March 26, 2025). He has been listed among the top 12 Scientists at Chapman University, according to AD Scientific Index 2025.

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications: Salehi, D., Mohammed, E. H., Helmy, N. M., Parang, K. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of linear and cyclic peptides containing arginine, tryptophan, and diphenylalanine. Antibiotics 2025, 14, 82. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics14010082; Preprints 2024, 2024120757. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202412.0757.v1.; Darwish, S., Davani-Davari, D., Tong, S., Tiwari, R. K., Yang, S. Parang, K. Synthesis and evaluation of cyclic peptide-dasatinib conjugates as anti-melanoma agents. Tetrahedron Letters, 2024, 152, 155365, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tetlet.2024.155365.; Helmy, N. M.; Parang, K. The role of peptides in combatting HIV infection: Applications and insights. Molecules 2024, 29, 4951. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29204951; Preprints 2024, 2024090137. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0137.v1.; Rai, M. S., Sajid, M. I., Moreno, J., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. K. Design, synthesis, and evaluation of oleyl-WRH peptides for siRNA delivery. Pharmaceuticals 2024, 17(8), 1083, https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17081083; Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0833.v1.; Tiwari R, Parang K, Darwish S. Synthesis and characterization of levofloxacin-conjugated amphiphilic peptides. Egyptian Journal of Chemistry, accepted July 29 2024, 10.21608/ejchem.2024.297620.9868.; Akinwale, A. D., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. K., Yamaki, J. Mechanistic study of antimicrobial effectiveness of cyclic amphipathic peptide [R4W4] against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clinical isolates. Antibiotics, 2024, 13(6), 555; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13060555.; Akhtar, U., Khurshid, Y., El-Aarag, B., Syed, B., Khan, I. A., Parang, K., Ahmed, A. Proteomic characterization and cytotoxic potential of proteins from Cuscuta (Cuscuta epithymum (L.) crude herbal product against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2024, 24, 195. doi: 10.1186/s12906-024-04495-1. PMID: 38769554; PMCID: PMC11103822.; Gharavi, A. T., Irian, S., Niknejad, A., Parang, K.,* Salimi, M.* Harnessing exosomes as a platform for drug delivery in breast cancer: A systematic review for in vivo and in vitro studies. Mol. Ther. Oncol. 2024, 32, 200800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omton.2024.200800, PMID: 38706989; PMCID: PMC11067457.; Lohan, S., Konshina, A. G., Tiwari, R. K., Efremov, R. G., Maslennikov, I., Parang K.* Broad-spectrum activity of membranolytic cationic macrocyclic peptides against multi-drug resistant bacteria and fungi. Eur. J. Pharm. Sci. 2024, 197, 106776, doi: 10.1016/j.ejps.2024.106776. PMID: 38663759. https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0928-0987(24)00087-3; Izhar Wallach, et al. Atomwise AIMS Program. AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study. Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 2;14(1):7526. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54655-z, PMID: 38565852.; Alhazza, A.; Mahdipoor, P.; Hall, R.; Manda, A.; Lohan, S.; Parang, K., Montazeri Aliabadi, H.* Modifying peptide/lipid-associated nucleic acids (PLANAs) for CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoprotein delivery. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2024, 106708, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejps.2024.106708; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928098724000198.; Mozaffari, S.; Salehi, D.; Mahdipoor, P.; Tiwari, R; Aliabadi, Hamidreza M., Parang, K.; Zoghebi, K. Targeted peptide-drug conjugates. US. Patent, US 12,070,505 B2, August. 27, 2024; Tiwari, R.; Lohan, S.; Parang, K. Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Amphipathic Cell Penetrating Peptides Against Multi-Drug Resistant Pathogens. Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, CA, US. February 11-16, 2024.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R.; Mohammed, E.; Lohan, S. Antibacterial Activity of Amphiphilic Peptides with Membrane-Active Properties: Alone and in Synergy with Antibiotics. Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, CA, US. February 11-16, 2024.; Davanidavari, D.; Moreno, J.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K. Design and Evaluation of a Cyclic Peptide-Epirubicin Conjugate to Enhance Anticancer Activity and Reduce Cardiac Toxicity. W1030-02-09, AAPS National Biotechnology Conference, San Francisco, CA, US. May 13-16, 2024.; El-Mowafi, S.A.; Konshina, A.G.; Mohammed, E.H.M.; Krylov, N.; Efremov, R.G.; Parang, K. Structural analysis and activity correlation of amphiphilic cyclic antimicrobial peptides derived from the [W4R4] scaffold. Molecules, 2023, 28, 8049, https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28248049. Preprints 2023, 2023111285. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202311.1285.v1; Hill, J.; Shalaby, K.E.; Bihaqi, S.W.; Alansi, B.H.; Barlock, B.; Parang, K.; Thompson, R.; Ouararhni, K.; Zawia, N.H. Tolfenamic acid derivatives: A new class of transcriptional modulators with potential therapeutic applications for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 15216. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242015216; Helmy, N.M.; Parang, K. Cyclic peptides with antifungal properties derived from bacteria, fungi, natural products, and synthetic sources. Preprints.org 2023, 2023060895. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.0895.v1; Pharmaceuticals 2023, 16, 892. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16060892; Gupta, S.; Park, S. E.; Mozaffari, S., El-Aarag, B.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. Design, synthesis, and antiproliferative activity of benzopyran-4-one-isoxazole hybrid compounds. Molecules 2023, 28(10), 4220; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28104220; Moreno, J.; Zoghebi, K.; Salehi, D.; Kim, L.; Shoushtari, S. K.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Amphiphilic cell-penetrating peptides containing arginine and hydrophobic residues as protein delivery agents. Pharmaceuticals 2023, 16, 469. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16030469; Kim, L.; Lohan, S.; Moreno, J.; Zoghebi, K.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Cyclic and linear peptides containing alternate WW and RR residues as molecular cargo delivery tools. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2023, 20, 341-356. PMID: 36445335. Epub Nov 29, 2022. PMID: 36445335; https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.2c00664; Mandal, D.; Lohan, S.; Sajid, M. I.; Alhazza, A.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H. Modified linear peptides effectively silence STAT-3 in breast cancer and ovarian cancer cell lines. Pharmaceutics 2023, 15, 666. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15020666. PMID: 36839988; PMCID: PMC9962452.; Yang, S, Parang K., Chamberlin, R., Meyskens, F. L., Jr. Apurinic/apuyrimidinic endonuclease 1/redox factor-1 inhibitor for treating cancer. US. Patent Appl. US20230157978, 2023, https://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2023/0157978.html; Zhang, M.; Parang, K.; Ibrahim, N.; Nam, Y. W.; Bezprozvanny, I.; Cui, M. SK Channel positive allosteric modulators. US Patent App. 17/956,553, 2023.; Moreno, J., Parang K. Amphipathic Hybrid Cell-Penetrating Peptide-Doxorubicin Conjugate as a Strategy to Overcome Multi-Drug Resistance and Decrease Cardiotoxicity. 18th Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 16-7, 2023, La Jolla, CA.; Rai, M. S., Sajid, M. I., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. Silencing of STAT3 Gene in Breast and Ovarian Cancer Cells Using Fatty Acylated Cell-Penetrating Peptides. The 28th American Peptide Symposium, “At the Peptide Frontier”, June 24-June 29, 2023. Scottsdale Arizona. Poster # P080.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R.; Mohammed, E.; Lohan, S. Amphiphilic Membrane-Active Peptides: Broad-Spectrum Antibacterial Activity Alone and in Combination with Antibiotics and Structural Insights. The 28th American Peptide Symposium, Scottsdale, Arizona, 6/28/2023.; Rai, M. S.; Imran S. M., Moreno, J.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K. Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Oleyl-WRH Peptides for siRNA Delivery, The 28th American Peptide Symposium, Scottsdale, Arizona, 6/28/2023.; Moreno, J.; Zoghebi, K.; Salehi, D.; Kim, L.; Shoushtari, S. K.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K. Amphiphilic Cell-Penetrating Peptides Containing Arginine and Hydrophobic Residues as Protein Delivery Agents, The 28th American Peptide Symposium, Scottsdale, Arizona, 6/28/2023.; Bhakta, K.; Moreno, J.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K. Cyclic and Linear Peptides Containing Tryptophan and Arginine Residues as Cell-Penetrating Peptides. The 28th American Peptide Symposium, Scottsdale, Arizona, 6/28/2023.; Tiwari, R.K.; Lohan, S.; Parang, K.; Kazeminy, A. Cyclic antimicrobial peptide (IFX-301) as a new generation of antibiotics against multi-drug resistant bacteria. Poster presented at TIDES USA 2023, held May 7 - 10, 2023 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, USA.; Chhikara, B. S.; Parang, K. Global Cancer Statistics 2022: the trends projection analysis. Chemistry Biology Letters, 2023, 10, 1, 451. Published online November 02, 2022.; Lohan, S.; Konshina, A. G.; Efremov, R. G.; Maslennikov, I.*; Parang, K.* Structure-based rational design of small a-helical peptides with broad-spectrum activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens. J. Med. Chem. 2023, 66, 855-874. Epub Dec. 27 2022. PMID: 36574364; PMCID: PMC9841524. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c01708.; Mohammed, E.; Sandeep, L.; Ghaffari, T.; Gupta, S.; Tiwari, R.*; Parang, K.* Membrane-active cyclic amphiphilic peptides: Broad-spectrum antibacterial activity alone and in combination with antibiotics. J. Med. Chem. 2022, 65,15819-15839. PMID: 36442155; PMCID: PMC9743092. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c01469.; Reshetnyak, Y. K.; Andreev, Oleg A.; Parang, K. US Patent App. 17/694,478, 2022, pH-Sensitive Cyclic Peptides, https://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2022/0281919.html; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R.; Lohan, S.; Mohammed, E.; Mandal, D. Synthetic Antimicrobial peptides, US Patent App. 17/639,082, 2022. https://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2022/0289794.html; Parang K.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H.; Mandal, D.; Mohammed, E.; Mozaffari, S.; Lohan, S.; Tiwari, R.; Hall, R. Compositions and methods for nucleic acid delivery. US Patent Appl. No. 17/788,954 June 24, 2022. Published US 2023/0000999 January 5, 2023.; Moreno, J., El-Aarag, B., Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Combination of hybrid cyclic-linear amphipathic peptides with chemotherapeutic agents as a strategy to enhance anticancer activity. 17th Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 20-21, 2022, La Jolla, CA.; Bhakta, K., Helmy. N. M., Moreno, J., Parang, K. Cyclic and linear peptides containing tryptophan and arginine residues as antifungal agents. 17th Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 20-21, 2022, La Jolla, CA.; El-Sayed, N. S., Nam, Y. W., Egorova, P, A., Nguyen, H. M., Orfali, R., Rahman, M. A., Yang, G., Wulff, H., Bezprozvanny, I., Parang, K., Zhang, M. Structure-activity relationship study of subtype-selective positive modulators of KCa2 channels. Gordon Conference Ca2+ Signaling, June 23, 2022. Ventura, CA.; Kim, L. Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Cyclic and linear cell-penetrating peptides composed of tryptophan (WW) and arginine (RR) residues as molecular transporters. Spring 2022, ACS National Meeting, San Diego, 3/23/2022, MEDI.; Moreno, J., Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Hybrid-amphipathic peptides for enhanced antibacterial activity and protein delivery. Spring 2022, ACS National Meeting, San Diego, 3/23/2022, MEDI.; Chhikara, B. S.*; Singh, N.; Poonam; Bazard, P.; Varma, R. S.; Parang, K.* Nanotherapeutics and HIV: Four decades of infection canvass the quest for drug development using nanomedical technologies, Applied NanoMedicine, 2022, 22(1), 354.; Nam, Y.-W.; Pala, R.; El-Sayed, N.; Larin-Henriquez, D.; Amirrad, F.; Yang, G.; Rahman, M. A.; Orfali, R.; Downey, M.; Parang, K.; Nauli, S.*; Zhang, M.* Subtype-selective positive modulation of KCa2.3 channels increases cilia length. ACS Chemical Biology, 2022, 17, 2344-2354. PMID: 35947779; PMCID: PMC9396613.; Agarwal, H. K.; Chhikara, B. S.; Ye, G.; Bhavaraju, S.; Dixit, A.; Kumar, A.; Doncel, G. F.*; Parang, K.* Synthesis and biological evaluation of 5'-O-fatty acyl ester derivatives of 3'-fluoro-2',3'-dideoxythymidine as potential anti-HIV microbicides, Molecules 2022, 27(10), 3352.; Alhazmi, R.; Tong, S.; Darwish, S.; Khanjani, E.; Khungar, B.; Swati Chawla, S.; Zheng, Z.; Chamberlin, R.; Parang, K.*; Yang, S.* Bis-cinnamamide derivatives as APE/Ref-1 inhibitors for the treatment of human melanoma. Molecules 2022, 27(9), 2672.; Mandal, D.; Mohammed, E. H. M.; Lohan, S.; Mahdipoor, P.; Baradaran, D.; Tiwari, R. K.*, Parang, K.*, Montazeri Aliabadi, H.* Redox-responsive disulfide cyclic peptides: A new strategy for siRNA delivery. Mol. Pharm. 2022, 19, 1338-1355. PMID: 35347995.; Salehi, D.; Mozaffari, S.; Lohan, S.; Mandal, D.; Zoghebi, K.; Tiwari, R. K.*; Parang, K.* Amphiphilic cell-penetrating peptides containing natural and unnatural amino acids as drug delivery agents. Cells 2022, 11(7), 1156; PMID: 35406720; PMCID: PMC8997995.; Mohammed, E. H. M.; Lohan, S.; Tiwari, R. K.*, Parang, K.* Amphiphilic cyclic peptide [W4KR5]-antibiotics combinations as broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents. Eur. J. Med. Chem., 2022, 17, 235:114278.; Zoghebi, K.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H.; Tiwari R. K.*; Parang, K.* [(WR)8WKßA]-doxorubicin conjugate: A delivery system to overcome multi-drug resistance against doxorubicin. Cells, 2022, 11, 301. PMID: 35053417; PMCID: PMC8774489.; El-Sayed, N.; Nam, Y.-W.; Egorova, P. A.; Nguyen, H. M.; Orfali, R.; Rahman, M.; Yang, G.; Wulff, H.; Bezprozvanny, I.; Parang, K.*; Zhang, M.* Structure-Activity Relationship Study of Subtype-Selective Positive Modulators of KCa2 Channels. J. Med. Chem. 2022, 65, 303-322. PMID: 34962403; PMCID: PMC8758555.; Lohan, S.; Mandal, D., Choi, W.; Konshina, A., Tiwari, R., Efremove, R, Maslennikov, I; Parang K. Small Amphiphilic Peptides: Activity Against Broad Range of Drug-Resistant Bacteria and Structural Insight into Membranolytic Properties. J. Med. Chem. 2022, 65, 665-687. PMID: 34978443. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01782; Querfurth, H.; Marshall, J.; Parang, K.; Rioult-Pedotti, M. S.; Tiwari, R.; Kwon, S.; Reisinger. S. A PDK-1 Allosteric Agonist Neutralizes Insulin Signaling Derangements and Beta-Amyloid Toxicity in Neuronal Cells and In Vitro, PLOS ONE, 2022 17(1):e0261696. PMID: 35061720; PMCID: PMC8782417. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261696; Bojarska, J.*; Mieczkowski A.; Ziora Z.; Skwarczynski, M.; Toth, I.; Shalash, A. O., Parang, K.; El-Mowafi, S. A.; Mohammed, E. H. M., Elnagdy, E.; Alkhazindar, M.; Wolf M. W. Cyclic Dipeptides: The Biological and structural landscape with special focus on the anti-cancer proline-based scaffold. Biomolecules 2021, 11(10):1515, PMID: 34680148; PMCID: PMC8533947.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A.; Sajid, M. I.; Mandal, D.; Stickley, D.; Nagasawa, S.; Long, J.; Lohan, S.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K.* Cyclic peptide-gadolinium nanocomplexes as siRNA Delivery Tools. Pharmaceuticals. 2021, 14, 1064, PMID: 34832846; PMCID: PMC8617768.; El-Sayed, N.S.; Sajid, M. I.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K.* Synthesis, characterization, and cytotoxicity evaluation of dextran-myristoyl-ECGKRK peptide conjugate. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2021, S0141-8130(21)02089-4. PMID: 34597704.; El-Sayed, N.S.; Jureka, A.S.; Edwards, M. R., Lohan, S.; Williams, C. G.; Keiser, P. T.; Davey, R. A.; Totonchy, J.; Tiwari, R. K.*; Basler, C. F.*; Parang, K.* Synthesis and antiviral activity of fatty acyl conjugates of remdesivir against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and Ebola virus. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2021, 226, 113862, PMID: 34583312; PMCID: PMC8454092.; Zoghebi, K., Sanner, M. F., Hanna, S., Mozaffari, S., Rahighi, S., Tiwari, R. K., Parang K. Cyclic peptides containing tryptophan and arginine residues as protein kinase inhibitors. 16th Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 21-22, 2021, La Jolla, CA.; Mandal, D., Lohan, S., Mohammed, E. H. M., Tiwari, R., Montazeri Aliabadi, H., Parang K. Peptide-Based Strategy for Nucleic Acid Delivery. 16th Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 21-22, 2021, La Jolla, CA.; Lohan, S., Mandal, D., Choi, W., Konshina, A. G., Tiwari, R. K., Efremov, R. G., Maslennikov, I, Parang, K. Short cationic membrane active antimicrobial peptides: A detailed structural insight of the membrane-bound peptides using 2D-NMR and molecular dynamic simulations. 16th Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 21-22, 2021, La Jolla, CA.; Sajid, M. I., Lohan, S., Kato, S., Parang K., Tiwari, R. K. A physical mixture of antibiotic and synthetic antimicrobial cyclic peptide proves to be more effective than respective chemical conjugate against multi-drug-resistant bacteria. 16th Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 21-22, 2021, La Jolla, CA; Mozaffari, S.; Salehi, D.; Mahdipoor, P.; Beuttler, R.; Tiwari, R.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H.; Parang, K. Design and application of hybrid cyclic-linear peptide-doxorubicin conjugates as a strategy to overcome doxorubicin resistance and toxicity. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2021, 226, 113836.; Yu, W., Park, S. H., Zhang, M., Salem, N., Parang, K., Nam, Y. W., Zhang, M. Evaluation of positive allosteric modulators of SK2 channels using QPatch. Society for Neuroscience Global Connectome. January 11-13, 2021.; Salehi, D., Mohammed, E. H. M., Mozaffari, S., Mandal, D., Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Amphiphilic Cell-Penetrating Peptides Containing Natural and Unnatural Amino Acids as Drug Delivery Tools and Antimicrobial Agents. ACS Spring 2021 (Virtual Meeting), 261st ACS National Meeting, April 5-16, 2021.; Khayyatnejad, S., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K. Hybrid cyclic-linear cell-penetrating peptides containing alternative positive and hydrophobic residues as molecular transporters. ACS Spring 2021 (Virtual Meeting), 261st ACS National Meeting, April 5-16, 2021, MEDI.; Lohan, S., Mohammed, E. H. M., Mandal, D., Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Design and evaluation of cyclic and linear amphiphilic peptides against multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 23, 2020.; Parang, K., Aliabadi, H.M., Mozaffari, S., Salhi, D., Mahdipoor, P., Tiwari R. Targeted Peptide-Drug Conjugates to Overcome Multi-Drug Resistance in Cancer. U.S. Patent Application, 63/149,771, February 16, 2021.; Aliabadi, H.M., Parang, K., Hall, R., Alasmari A. Peptide/Lipid-Associated Nucleic Acids (PLANA) for Nucleic Acid Delivery. US Patent App. 17/170,785, 2021.; Zoghebi, K., Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Cyclic cell-penetrating peptide-doxorubicin conjugate to overcome multi-drug resistance in cancer. Fall 2021 (Virtual Meeting), 262nd ACS National Meeting, 8/25/2021, MEDI.; Nam, Y. W.; Cui, M.; Orfali, R.; Viegas, A.; Nguyen, M.; Mohammed, E. H. M., Zoghebi, K. A., Rahighi, S., Parang. K.; Zhang, M. Hydrophobic interactions between the HA helix and S4-S5 linker modulate apparent Ca2+ sensitivity of SK2 channels. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2021, e13552.; Fukuda, S.; Varshney, A.; Fowler, B. J.; Wang,S.-B.; Narendran, S.; Ambati, K.; Tetsuhiro Yasuma, T.; Magagnoli, J.; Leung, H.; Hirahara, S.; Nagasaka, Y.; Yasuma, R.; Apicella, I.; Pereira, F.; Makin, R. D.; Magner, E.; Liu, X.; Sun, J.; Wang, M.; Baker, K.; Marion, K. M.; Huang, X.; Baghdasaryan, E.; Ambati, M.; Ambati, V. L.; Pandey, A.; Pandya, L.; Cummings, T.; Banerjee, D.; Huang, P.; Tolstonog, G. V.; Luca, C. D.; Sciamanna, I.; Spadafora, C.; Held, U.; Erwin, J. A.; Paquola, A. C. M.; Herdy, J. R.; Ogura, Y.; Hiroko Terasakif, Oshika, T.; Darwish, S.; Ramendra K. Singh, R. K.; Mozaffari, S.; Bhattarai, D.; Kim, K. B.; James W. Hardin, J. W.; Bennett, C. L.; Hinton, D. R.; Hanson, T. E.; Rover, C.; Parang, K.; Kerur, N.; Liu, J.; Werner, B. C.; Suttong, S. S.; Saddak, S. R.; Schumannq, G. G.; Gelfand, B. D.; Gages, F. H.; Ambati, J. Cytoplasmic synthesis of endogenous Alu complementary DNA via reverse transcription and implications in age-related macular degeneration. Proc. National Academy of Sciences, USA (PNAS), 2021. 118(6):e2022751118.; Apostolopoulos, V.; Bojarska, J.; Chai, T.-T.; Elnagdy, S.; Kaczmarek, K.; Matsoukas, J.; New, R.; Parang, K.; Paredes Lopez, O.; Parhiz, H.; Perera, C.; Pickholz, M.; Remko, M.; Saviano, M.; Skwarczynski, M.; Tang, Y.; Wolf, W.; Yoshiya, T.; Zabrocki, J.; Zielenkiewicz, P.; Alkhazindar, M.; Barriga, V.; Kelaidonis, K.; Sarasia, E. M.; Toth, I. A global review on short peptides: frontiers and perspectives, Molecules 2021, Jan 15;26(2):E430.; Hall, R.; Alasmari, A.; Mozaffari, S.; Mahdipoor, P.; Parang K; Montazeri Aliabadi, H. Peptide/Lipid-Associated Nucleic Acids (PLANAs) as a Multicomponent siRNA Delivery System. Mol. Pharm. 2021, 18, 986-1002.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H.; Totonchy, J.; Mahdipoor, P.; Parang, K.; Uludag, H. Suppression of Human coronavirus 229E infection in lung fibroblast cells via RNA interference. Frontiers in Nanotechnology, section Biomedical Nanotechnology, 2021, doi: 10.3389/fnano.2021.670543.; Sanner, M.; Zoghebi, K.; Hanna, S.; Mozaffari, S.; Rahigi, S.; Tiwari, R.; Parang K. Cyclic peptides as protein kinase inhibitors: Structure-activity relationship and molecular modeling. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 2021, PMID: 34000187. PMID: 34000187.; Mushtaq, M.; Naz, S.; Parang, K.; Ul-Haq, Z. Exploiting Dengue virus protease as a therapeutic target; current Status, challenges and future avenues. Curr. Med. Chem. 2021, 28, 7767-7802. PMID: 34212826.; Khayyatnejad Shoushtari, S.; Zoghebi, K.; Sajid, M. I.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K. Hybrid cyclic-linear cell-penetrating peptides containing alternative positively charged and hydrophobic residues as molecular transporters. Molecular Pharmaceutics 2021, 18(10):3909-3919.. PMID: 34491768.; Parang, K., Montazeri Aliabadi, H., Tiwari, R., Lohan, S., Mohammed, E., Mandal, D., Hall, R., Mozaffari, S. Amphiphillic peptides for nucleic acid and protein delivery. August 4, 2021, US 63/229,149.; Parang, K., Tiwari, R., Salem Aboud N. Fatty acyl and fatty ether conjugates of Remdesivir and its active metabolites as antivirals. PCT/US2021/030265. Full Application filled on April 30, 2021.; Parang K.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H.; Mandal, D.; Mohammed, E.; Mozaffari, S.; Lohan, S.; Tiwari, R.; Hall, R. Compositions and methods for nucleic acid delivery. PCT Int. Appl. (2021), WO 2021134026 A2 20210701.; Parang, K., Tiwari, R., Lohan S., Mohammed, E. Mandal, D. Synthetic antimicrobial peptides PCT Int. Appl. (2021), WO 2021042039 A1 20210304.; Lohan, S., Mohammed, E. H. M., Mandal, D., Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Design and evaluation of cyclic and linear amphiphilic peptides against multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 23, 2020.; Kumar, S.; Mandal, D.; El-Mowafi, S. A.; Mozaffari, S.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang K. Click-free synthesis of a multivalent tricyclic peptide as a molecular transporter. Pharmaceutics 2020, 12(9), 842; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12090842.; Salehi, D.; Mandal, D.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Amphiphilic cell-penetrating peptides containing natural and unnatural amino acids as drug delivery agents. Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, Gordon Research Seminar, Ventura, CA, US. February 10-14, 2020.; Akinwale, A. K.; Yamaki. J.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. Fatty acyl-cyclic [W4R4K] as potential antibacterial agents against pathogenic bacteria. Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, Gordon Research Seminar, Ventura Beach Marriott, Ventura, CA, US. February 10-14, 2020.; Alasmari, A.; Mozaffari, S.; Parang, K.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H. Cyclic-linear hybrid peptides as siRNA delivery system. Gordon Conference: Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, Ventura, CA, United States, February 10-14, 2020.; Shirazi A. N.; Park, S. E.; Rad, S.; Baloyan, L.; Mandal, D.; Imran Sajid, M.; Hall, R.; Lohan, S.; Zoghebi, K.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. Cyclic peptide-gadolinium nanoparticles for enhanced intracellular delivery. Pharmaceutics 2020, 12(9), 792; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12090792.; Mohammed, E. H. M., Mandal, D., Mozaffari, S., Zharon, M. A.-H., Osman, A. M., Tiwari, R. K., Parang K. Comparative molecular transporter properties of cyclic peptides containing tryptophan and arginine residues formed through disulfide cyclization. Molecules 2020, 25(11):E2581. doi: 10.3390/molecules25112581.; Parang, K.; El-Sayed, N. S.; Kazeminy, A. J.; Tiwari, R. K. Comparative antiviral activity of remdesivir and anti-HIV nucleoside analogs against human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E). Molecules (2020) 25(10), 2343; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25102343.; Chhikara, B. S.; Shraf, S.; Mozaffari, S.; St. Jeans, N.; Mandal, D.; Tiwari, R. K.; Ul-Haq, Z.; Parang, K. Phenylpyrazalopyrimidines as tyrosine kinase inhibitors: Synthesis, antiproliferative Activity, and molecular simulations. Molecules (2020) 25(9), 2135; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25092135.; Henry, E. K.; Chaney, A. M.; Nagle, V. L.; Cropper, H. C.; Mozaffari, S.; Slaybaugh, C.; Parang, K. Andreev, O. A.; Reshetnyak, Y. K.; James, M. L.; Lewis, J. S. Demarcation of sepsis-induced peripheral and central acidosis with pH-Low Insertion Cyclic (pHLIC) peptide. J. Nuclear Medicine (2020) 119.233072. doi:10.2967/jnumed.119.233072.; Kumar, S.; Singh, D.; Kumari, P.; Malik, R. S.; Poonam; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. PEGylation and Cell-Penetrating Peptides: Glimpse from Past and Prospects in Future. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry (2020) 10.2174/1568026620666200128142603.; Zoghebi K. A.; Bousoik E.; Parang K.; Elsaid K. A. Design and biological evaluation of colchicine-CD44-targeted peptide conjugate in an in vitro model of crystal induced inflammation. Molecules. (2019) Dec 21;25(1). pii: E46. doi: 10.3390/molecules25010046.; Yeong, K. Y.; Nor Azizi, M. I. H.; Berdigaliyev, N.; Chen, W. N.; Lee, W. L.; Shirazi, A.; Parang, K. Sirtuin inhibition and anti-cancer activities of ethyl 2-benzimidazole-5-carboxylate derivatives. MedChemComm, (2019), 10, 2140-2145.; Chhikara, B.; Rathi, B.; Parang, K. Critical evaluation of pharmaceutical rational design of nano-delivery systems for doxorubicin in cancer therapy. Journal of Materials NanoScience (2019), 6(2), 47-66.; Kumar, S.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K. Amphiphilic tricyclic peptides: Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation as molecular transporters” 14th Peptide Therapeutics Symposium, October 24-25, 2019, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA.; Darwish, S.; Fong, S.; Yang, S.; Tiwari, R. K; Parang, K. Synthesis and evaluation of cyclic peptide-dasatinib conjugates as antimelanoma agents. 258th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA, United States, August 25-29, 2019, MEDI-321.; Darwish, S.; Mozaffari, S.; Tiwari, R. K; Parang, K. Synthesis and evaluation of bicyclic peptides containing arginine and tryptophan residues as molecular,258th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA, United States, August 25-29, 2019, MEDI-320.; Akhtar, U.; Megeressa, M.; Basir, S.; Parang, K.; Ahmed, A. Proteomic and cytotoxic characterization of proteins from Cuscuta (Dodder) tendrils. 33rd Annual Symposium of Protein Society June 30-July 3, 2019. Seattle, WA.; Mohammed, E.; Mozaffari, S.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Comparative molecular transporter properties of cyclic peptides containing tryptophan and arginine residues formed through disulfide cyclization. 26th American Peptide Symposium, Monterey, California. June 22–27, 2019.; Park, S. E.; Shamloo, K.; Kristedja, T.; Darwish, S.; Bisoffi, M.; Parang, K.; Rakesh Tiwari. Fibronectin and integrin-targeted peptide anticancer drug conjugates for prostate cancer. 26th American Peptide Symposium, Monterey, California. June 22 – 27, 2019.; Akinwale, A.; Yamaki, J.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. Evaluation of structure-activity relationship of cyclic peptides [W4R4] and amphipathic fatty acyl-cyclic [W4R4K] as potential antibacterial agents against pathogenic bacteria. 26th American Peptide Symposium, Monterey, California. June 22 – 27, 2019.; Darwish, S.; Sadeghiani, N.; Fong, S.; Mozaffari, S.; Hamidi, P.; Withana, T.; Yang, S., Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Synthesis and antiproliferative activities of doxorubicin thiol conjugates and doxorubicin-SS-cyclic peptide. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2019), 161, 594-606.; Bapat, S.; Viswanadh, N.; Mujahid, M.; Shirazi, A. N., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., Karthikeyan, M., Muhukrishman, M., Vyas, R. Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular modeling of novel chromone/aza-chromone fused a-aminophosphonates as Src kinase inhibitors. J. Sci. & Industrial Research (2019) 78, 111-117.; Mozaffari, S.; Bousoik, E.; Amirrad, F.; Lamboy, R.; Coyle, M.; Hall, R; Alasmari, A.; Mahdipoor, P.; Parang, K.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H. Amphiphilic Peptides for Efficient siRNA Delivery, Polymers (2019) 11(4), 703; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11040703.; El-Sayed, N. S., Shirazi A. N.; Sajid, M. I.; Park, S. E.; Parang, K., Tiwari R. K. Synthesis and antiproliferative activities of conjugates of paclitaxel and camptothecin with a cyclic cell-penetrating peptide. Molecules (2019) 24(7), 1427. doi: 10.3390/molecules24071427.; Park, S. E.; Shamloo, K.; Kristedja, T.; Darwish, S.; Bisoffi, M.; Parang, K.; Tiwari R. K. EDB-FN targeted peptide-drug conjugates for use against prostate cancer. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. (2019) doi: 10.3390/ijms20133291.; Park S. E., Sajid M. I., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. K. Cyclic cell-penetrating peptides as efficient intracellular drug delivery tools. Molecular Pharmaceutics. (2019) doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.9b00633.; Coyle M.; Amirrad, F.; Nabiee, R.; Lamboy, R.; Mahdipoor, P.; Parang K., Montazeri Aliabadi H. Simultaneous targeting of mTOR and mLST8 in human breast cancer cells. AACR Targeting PI3K/mTOR Signaling Special Conference. Boston, MA. November 30-December 3, 2018.; Riahifard, N; Mozaffari, S., Aldakhil, T., Nunez, F.; Alshammari, Q.; Alshammari, S.; Yamaki, J.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. Design, synthesis, and evaluation of amphiphilic cyclic and linear peptides composed of hydrophobic and positively-charged amino acids as antibacterial agents. Molecules (2018) 23(10), 2722, doi:10.3390/molecules23102722.; Hanna, S. E.; Mozaffari, S.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang K. Comparative molecular transporter efficiency of cyclic peptides containing tryptophan and arginine residues. ACS Omega, (2018), 3, 16281-16291.; Akinwale, A. D.; Yamaki, J.; K. Parang; Tiwari, R. Amphipathic fatty acyl-cyclic [W4R4K] peptides as antimicrobial agents against pathogenic bacteria. 256th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Boston, MA, United States, August 19-23, 2018, MEDI-203.; Mozaffari, S.; Tavakoli, K.; Khungar, B.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K. Amphiphilic cell-penetrating hybrid cyclic-linear peptides as a drug delivery system. 256th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Boston, MA, United States, August 19-23, 2018, MEDI-249.; Akinwale, A.; Yamaki, J.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. Amphipathic fatty acyl-cyclic [W4R4K] peptides as antimicrobial agents against pathogenic bacteria. 99th Annual Meeting of the AAASPD in Pomona, California June 13, 2018. Second place in oral presentation.; Alhazmi, R.; Darwish, S.; Fong, S.; Parang, K.; Yang, S. Improved anti-tumor activity of a novel APE/Ref-1 inhibitor using a cyclic peptide as nano drug delivery system for melanoma therapy. 2018 TechConnect World Innovation Conference. W6.352, May 16, 2018.; Zoghebi, K. A.; Elsaid, K. A.; Parang, K. CD44-targeted peptide-colchicine conjugates for acute gout attacks. 2018 TechConnect World Innovation Conference. W6.359, May 16, 2018.; Fong S, Withana T, Iantosca E, Lee Y, Parang, K., Yang S. e-Poster Presentation: Effects of nanocurcumin ([WR]5-conjugate) on doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity, Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) 14th Annual Conference. Denver, CO. March 20-24, 2018.; El-Sayed, N. S.; Miyake, T.; Shirazi, A. N.; Clark, J.; Buchholz, S.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. Design, synthesis, and evaluation of homochiral peptides containing arginine and histidine as Molecular Transporters. Molecules (2018) 1590; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23071590.; Shirazi, A.S.; Mozaffari, S.; Sherpa, R. T.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K. Efficient intracellular delivery of cell-impermeable cargo molecules by peptides containing tryptophan and histidine. Molecules (2018) 23, 1536; doi:10.3390/molecules23071536.; Singh, A.; Sadeghiani, N.; Mozaffari, S.; Parang, K.; Kumar, V. Ferrocenylchalcone-uracil conjugates: Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation, Medicinal Chemistry Research, (2018), 27, 1260-1268; Parang, K., Do, H., Sharma, M., El-Sayed, N. M., Mahdipoor, P., Bousoik, E., Montazeri Aliabadi, H. Difatty Acyl-Conjugated Linear and Cyclic Peptides As Molecular Transporters. Gordon Conference: Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, Ventura, CA, United States, February 11-16, 2018.; Akinwale A. D.; Park, S. E.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. Antibiotics-peptide conjugates against multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 2018, In press.; Darwish, S.; Mozaffari, S.; Parang K.; Tiwari, R. Cyclic peptide conjugate of curcumin and doxorubicin as an anticancer agent. Tet. Lett. (2017) 58, 4617-4622.; Do, H.; Sharma, M.; El-Sayed, N. S.; Mahdipoor,P.; Bousoik, E.; Parang, K.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H. Difatty Acyl-conjugated linear and cyclic peptides for siRNA Delivery. ACS Omega (2017) 2, 6939–6957.; Kristedja, T., Park, S.E., Darwish, S., Bisoffi, M., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. Characterization of a prostate targeted peptide-drug conjugate. CURSD, Dec. 6, 2017.; Lamboy, R., Mozaffari, S., Parang, K., Montazeri, H. Cyclic peptides for siRNA delivery in breast cancer cells. CURSD, Dec. 6, 2017.; Gupta, S., Mozaffari, S., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. Design, synthesis, and evaluation of antiproliferative activities of benzopyran-4-one based heterocyclic compounds. AAPS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States, November 15, 2017, W3066.; Park, S. E., Kristedja, T., Darwish, S., Bisoffi, M., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. Fibronectin-Targeted Peptide Anticancer Drug Conjugates for Prostate Cancer. AAPS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States, November 15, 2017, T7113.; Sadeghiani, N., Darwish, S., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K. Biological effects of magnetite nanoparticles and magnetohyperthermia technique in different cancer cells. AAPS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States, November 15, 2017, W3070.; Reshetnyak, Y. K., Andreev, O. A., Parang K. pH-sensitive peptides. PCT Int. Appl. (2017), WO2017165452A120170928.; Parang, K., Doncel, G., Agarwal, H. K. Substituted nucleoside derivatives with antiviral and antimicrobial properties. PCT Int. Appl. 2009 WO 2009009625., U.S. Patent Application 2016, 15/079,918, U.S. Patent No. 9,738,678, August 22, 2017.; Tiwari RK, Brown A, Shirazi AN, Bolton J, Tse A, Verkhivker G, Parang K,* Sun G.* Design, synthesis, and evaluation of dasatinib-amino acid and dasatinib-fatty Acid conjugates as protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors. ChemMedChem. (2017) 12, 86-99.; Reddy Kotla, S. V.; Vandavasi, J. K., Wang, J.J., Parang, K.*, Tiwari, R. K.* Palladium-catalyzed intramolecular cross-dehydrogenative 2 coupling: Synthesis of fused imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidines and pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines. ACS Omega (2017) 2, 11-19.; Manchanda, P.; Parshad, B., Kumar, A.; Tiwari, R. K.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Parang, K.; Sharma, S. K.* Design, synthesis and evaluation of kinase inhibition potential of pyridylpyrimidinylaminophenyl derivatives. Archiv der Pharmazie, (2017) 350(3-4).; Agarwal, H. K.; Chhikara, B. S.; Doncel, G. F.; Parang, K.* Synthesis and anti-HIV activities of unsymmetrical long chain dicarboxylate esters of dinucleosides reverse transcriptase inhibitors, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. (2017) 27, 1934-1937.; Yoon, Y. K.; Chia, T. S.; Quah, C. K.; Lim, W. L.; Oo, C. W.; Shirazi, A. N.;Parang, K.; Choon, T. S.* Novel fluorescent benzimidazoles: Synthesis, characterization, crystal structure and evaluation of their anticancer properties. Letters in Organic Chemistry (2017) 14, 33-38.; Riahifard, N.; Tavakoli, K.: Yamaki, J.: Parang, K.*; Tiwari, R.* Synthesis and evaluation of antimicrobial activity of [R4W4K]-levofloxacin and [R4W4K]-levofloxacin-Q Conjugates. Molecules (2017) 22(6), 957; doi:10.3390/molecules22060957.; Darwish, S.; Parang, K.; Marshall, J.; Goebel, D. J.; Tiwari, R.* Efficient synthesis of CN2097 using in situ activation of sulfhydryl group. Tetrahedron Lett. (2017) 58, 3053-3056; Sharma, M.; El-Sayed, N. S.; Do, H.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K.*, Aliabadi, H. M.* Tumor-targeted delivery of siRNA using fatty acyl-CGKRK peptide conjugates. Scientific Reports (2017) 7(1), 6093.; Marshall, J.*; Szmydynger-Chodobska, J.; Rioult-Pedotti, M.S., Lau, K., Chin, A. T.; Reddy Kotla, S. K.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K.; Threlkeld, S. W.; Chodobski. A.* TrkB-enhancer facilitates functional recovery after traumatic brain injury. Scientific Reports, (2017) (Just Accepted); Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., El-Sayed, N. S., Tiwari, .R. K., Tavakoli, K., Parang K.* Cyclic peptide containing hydrophobic and positively charged residues as a drug delivery system for curcumin. Curr. Drug Deliv. (2016), 13, 409-417.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., El-Sayed, N. S., Mandal, D., Tiwari, R. K., Tavakoli, K., Etesham, M., Parang, K.* Cysteine and arginine-rich peptides as molecular carriers. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. (2016) 26, 651-656.; Banerjee, A., Sayeh, N., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Tiwari, A., Parang, K.*, Yadav, A. Arginine-rich cyclic peptides enhance nuclear targeted delivery of anti-cancer agents: Molecular insights. Letters in Drug Design & Discovery, 2016, 13, 591-604.; El-Sayed, N. S., Shirazi, A. N., El-Meligy, M. G., El-Ziaty, A. K., Nagieb, Z. A., Parang, K., Tiwari, R. K. Design, synthesis, and evaluation of chitosan conjugated GGRGDSK peptides as a cancer cell-targeting molecular transporter. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 2016 87, 611-622.; Weerakkody, D., Moshnikova, A., El-Sayed, N. S., Adochite, R. C., Slaybaugh, G., Golijanin, J., Tiwari, R. K. Andreev, O. A., Parang, K.*, Reshetnyak, Y. K., Novel pH-sensitive cyclic peptides, Scientific Reports 2016, 6, 31322 doi:10.1038/srep31322.; Tiwari, R. K.; Kotla, S. R.; Marshall, J.; Goebel, D. J.; Parang, K. Efficient synthesis and neuroprotective activity of CN2097: A cyclic disulfide polyarginine peptidomimetic binding PDZ domain of PSD-95. 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA, United States, March 13-17, 2016, AGFD-58.; Do, H.; Tiwari, R.; Parang, K.; Montazeri Aliabadi, H. Synthesis of amphiphilic cyclic and linear peptide-fatty acid conjugates and studying their interactions with siRNA. 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA, United States, March 13-17, 2016, MEDI-42.; Aboud, N.; Miyake, T.; Shirazi, A.; Suzuki, A.; Shiroishi, A.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. Synthesis and evaluation of fatty acyl derivatives of (HR)4 peptides as cell-penetrating peptides. 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA, United States, March 13-17, 2016, MEDI-43.; Kotla, S. R.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. Synthesis of fused benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidin-2-yl)methanone derivatives using copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidation via tandem approach. 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA, United States, March 13-17, 2016, ORGN-756.; Kotla, S. R.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. Solid-phase synthesis of heterodisulfide peptidomimetic CN2097. Abstracts of Papers, 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA, United States, March 13-17, 2016, ORGN-535.; Riahifard, N.; Shirazi, A.; Yamaki, J.; Parang, K.; Tiwari, R. K. Synthesis of amphiphilic linear and cyclic peptides containing arginine and hydrophobic residues as potent antibacterial agents. Abstracts of Papers, 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA, United States, March 13-17, 2016, MEDI-355.; Beni, Y., Yadav, A., Banerjee, A., Patel, P. B., Shirazi, A. N., Parang, K. Biocompatible, biodegradable metal-binding cyclic peptides for heavy metal toxicity removal, 71st SWRM/67th SERMACS meeting, Memphis, Tennessee, November 4-7, 2015.; Alnakhli, J., Boadi, W., Parang, K., Shirazi, A., Ahmadibeni, Y. Triphenylmethanol conjugates of triptorelin as anticancer prodrugs. 250th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Boston, MA, United States, August 16-20, 2015, MEDI-214.; Shirazi, A. N., Parang, K. Enhanced delivery of anti-HIV drugs by a peptide amphiphile containing tryptophan and histidine. 2015 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition. Orlando, FL, United States, November 2-6, 2015, Abstract # 2718.; Mozaffari, S.; Shirazi, A. N.; Parang, K. Design and evaluation of [WK]4R4 as a peptide-based delivery system for enhanced cellular delivery of a cell impermeable phosphopeptide. 2015 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition. Orlando, FL, United States, November 2-6, 2015, Abstract # 3104.; Shirazi, A. N.; Parang, K. Cyclic peptide containing tryptophan and histidine [WH]5 as a biomolecular transporter. Pacifichem 2015. Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, December 15-20, 2015.; Shirazi, A. N.; El-Sayed, N., Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Design and biological evaluation of cell-penetrating peptide–curcumin conjugates as prodrugs. Pacifichem 2015. Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, December 15-20, 2015.; Beni, Y.; Yadav, A.; Banerjee, A.; Bhai Patel, P.; Shirazi, A.; Parang, K. Biocompatible, biodegradable metal-binding cyclic peptides for heavy metal toxicity removal. 67th Southeast/71st Southwest Joint Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Memphis, TN, United States, November 4-7, 2015, SERMACS-SWRM-139.; Kameshwara Rao V., Kaswan, P., Parang, K., Kumar, A. Indium triflate catalyzed microwave-assisted alkenylation of methoxyphenols: Synthesis of indenes and chromenes. Organic and Biomolecular Chem. (2015) 13, 11072-11077.; Yoon, Y. K., Ali, M. A., Wei, A. C., Choon, T. S., Shirazi, A. N., Parang, K.* Discovery of a potent and highly fluorescent sirtuin inhibitor. Med. Chem. Commun. (2015) 6, 1857-1863.; Rafinejad, A., Fallah-Tafti, A., Tiwari, R., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Mandal, D., Parang, K., A. Foroumadi, A., Akbarzadeh, T. Synthesis and Evaluation of Ethyl 2,4-dioxo-4- arylbutanoate Derivatives as Src Kinase Inhibitors. Journal of Sciences, 2015, 26, 321-325.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Paquin, K. L., Howlett, N. G., Mandal, D., Parang, K. Cyclic peptide-capped gold nanoparticles for enhanced siRNA delivery. Molecules (2014), 19, 13319-13331.; Banerjee, A., Patel, P. B., Beni, Y., Shirazi, A. N., Parang, K., Yadav, A. Biocompatible, biodegradable peptides for heavy metal toxicity removal. Journal of Applied Chemical Science International (2015) 4, 144-153.; Chand, K., Tiwari, R. K., Kumar, S., Shirazi, A. N., Sharma, S., Eycken, E. V. V. D, Parmar, V. S., Parang, K., Sharma, S. K. Synthesis, antiproliferative, and c-Src kinase inhibitory activities of 4-oxo-4H-1-benzopyran derivatives. J. Heterocyclic Chemistry (2015) 52, 562-572.; Marshall, J., Wong, K., Parang, K., Tiwari, R., Spaller, M., Rupasinghe, C., Berberoglu, E. D., Zhao, X., Sinkler, C., Lie, J., Lee, I., Hüttemann, M., Goebel, D. J. Inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate induced retinal neuronal death by polyArginine peptides is linked to the attenuation of stress-induced hyperpolarization of the inner mitochondrial membrane potential. J. Biol. Chem. (2015) jbc.M115.662791.; Ramos-Molina, B., Lick, A. N., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Oh, D., Tiwari, R., El-Sayed, N. S., Cationic cell-penetrating peptides are potent furin inhibitors. Parang, K., Lindberg, I. PLos One (2015) 10(6): e0130417.; Mokhtari, S, Shirazi, A. N., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., Kobarfard, F. Synthesis of 3-arylidene and 3-arylimine oxindole derivatives and evaluation of their Src kinase inhibitory and antiproliferative activities. Med. Chem. (2015) 5, 242-252.; Beni, Y., Dash C., Parang K. Synthesis of B-triphosphotriester pronucleotides. Tetrahedron Lett. (2015) 56, 2247–2250.; Saunthwal, R. K., Patel, M., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K., Verma, A. K. On water: catalyst-free chemoselective synthesis of highly functionalized tetrahydroquinazolines from 2-aminophenylacrylate. Green Chemistry (2015) 17, 1434–1441.; Pemmaraju, B. P., Malekar, S., Agarwal, H. K., Tiwari, R. K., Oh, D., Doncel, G. F., Worthen, D. R., Parang,, K., Design, synthesis, antiviral activity, and pre-formulation development of poly-L-arginine-fatty acyl derivatives of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids (2015) 34, 1-15.; Fowler, B. J., Gelfand,B. D.., Kim, Y., Kerur, N., Tarallo, V., Hirano, Y., Amarnath, S. Fowler, D. H., Radwan, M., Young, M. T., Pittman, K., Kubes, P., Agarwal, H. K., Parang, K., Hinton,D. R., Bastos-Carvalho, A., Li, S., Yasuma, T., Mizutani, T., Yasuma, R. Wright, C., Ambati, J. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors possess intrinsic anti-inflammatory activity. Science (2014) 346, 1000-1003.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Tiwari, R. K., Oh, D., Sullivan, B., Kumar, A., Beni, Y. A., Parang K. Cyclic peptide-selenium nanoparticles as drug transporters. Mol. Pharmaceutics (2014) 11, 3631-3641.; Chhikara, B. S., Rao, M. S., Rao, V. K., Kumar, A., Buckheit, K. W., Buckheit Jr. R. W., Parang, K. Carbocyclodipeptides as modified nucleosides: Synthesis and anti-HIV activities. Can. J. Chem. (2014) 10.1139/cjc-2014-0356.; Shirazi, A., El-Sayed, N. S., Tiwari, R., Mandal, D., Parang, K. Synthesis and biological evaluation of linear and cyclic peptides containing cysteine and arginine as a drug delivery system. AAPS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States, November 5, 2014, W5042.; Shirazi, A. N.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Metal nanoparticles in cancer therapy. 2014 Chao Family Cancer Center Retreat. Palm Springs, CA, United States, September 26-28, 2014.; Oh, D., Sun, J., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., LaPlante, K. L., Rowley, D. C., Parang, K. Antibacterial activities of amphiphilic cyclic cell-penetrating peptides against multidrug resistant pathogens. Mol. Pharmaceutics (2014), 11, 3528-3536.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A.; El-Sayed, N. S.; Tiwari, R. K.; Mandal, D.; Parang, K. Synthesis and biological evaluation of linear and cyclic peptides containing cysteine and arginine as a drug delivery system. 248th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Francisco, CA, United States, August 10-14, 2014, BIOL-237.; Oh, D.; Sun, J.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A.; LaPlante, K. L.; Rowley, D. C.; Parang, K. Antibacterial activities of amphiphilic cyclic cell-penetrating peptides against multidrug resistant pathogens. 248th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Francisco, CA, United States, August 10-14, 2014, MEDI-62.; Sayeh, N.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A.; Tiwari, R. K.; Oh, D.; Parang, K. 248th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Francisco, CA, United States, August 10-14, 2014, MEDI-63.; El-Sayed, N. S.; Shirazi, A. N.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Synthesis of conjugates of a cell penetrating cyclic peptide with paclitaxel and camptothecin. 248th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Francisco, CA, United States, August 10-14, 2014, MEDI-166.; El-Sayed, N. S.; Shirazi, A. N.; Tiwari, R. K.; Parang, K. Efficient solid-phase synthesis of iRGD analog containing a cysteine anchor as tumor homing peptide. 248th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Francisco, CA, United States, August 10-14, 2014, ORGN-278.; Parang, K., Peptide nanostructures as nolecular transporters of anticancer agents. Gordon Conference: Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, Ventura, CA, United States, February 23-28, 2014.; Shirazi, A., Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Cyclic peptide-capped selenium nanoparticles as nano drug delivery systems. Gordon Conference: Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, Ventura, CA, United States, February 23-28, 2014.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Paquin, K. L., Howlett, N. G., Mandal, D., Parang, K. Cyclic peptide-capped gold nanoparticles for enhanced siRNA delivery. Molecules (2014), 19, 13319-13331; Oh, D., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Northup, K., Sullivan, B., Tiwari, R. K., Bisoffi, M., Parang, K. Enhanced cellular uptake of short polyarginine peptides through fatty acylation and cyclization. Mol. Pharmaceutics (2014) 11, 2845-2854.; Oh, D., Darwish, S. A., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K. Amphiphilic bicyclic peptides as cellular delivery agents. ChemMedChem (2014) 11, 2845-2854.; Verma, A. K., Patel, M., Joshi, M., Likhar, P. R., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K. Base-mediated chemo- and stereoselective addition of 5-aminoindole/tryptamine and histamines onto alkynes. J. Org. Chem. (2014) 79, 172-186.; Yoon, Y. K., Ali, M. A., Wei, A. C., Shirazi, A. N., Parang, K., Choon, T. S. Benzimidazoles as new scaffold of sirtuin inhibitors: Green synthesis, in vitro studies, molecular docking analysis and evaluation of their anti-cancer properties. Eur J Med Chem. (2014) 83C, 448-454.; Almansour, A. I., Kumar, R. S., Beevi, F., Shirazi, A. N., Osman, H., Ismail, R., Choon, T. S., Sullivan, B., McCaffrey, K., Nahhas, A., Parang K, Ali, M. A. Facile, regio- and diastereoselective synthesis of spiro-pyrrolidine and pyrrolizine derivatives and evaluation of their antiproliferative activities. Molecules (2014) 19, 10033-10055.; Muthyala, M. K. Velisetti, K., Parang, K., Kumar, A. K. Advances in functionalized ionic liquids as reagents and scavengers in organic synthesis. Current Org. Chem. (2014) 18, 2530-2554.; Sayeh, N., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Oh, D., Sun, J., Rowley, D., Banerjee, A., Yadav, A., Tiwari, R. K., Parang, K.. Amphiphilic triazolyl peptides: Synthesis and evaluation as nanostructures. Current Org. Chem. (2014) 18, 2665-2671.; Choudhary, S., Muthyala, M. K., Parang, K., Kumar A. Ionic liquid-supported sulfonyl hydrazine: A useful reagent for traceless synthesis of pyrazoles. Frontiers in Organic Chemistry (2014) 1, 683-688.; Mandal, D., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Parang, K. Self-assembly of peptides to nanostructures. Org. Biomol. Chem. (2014) 12, 3544-3561.; Chand, K., Prasad, S., Tiwari, R. K., Shirazi, A. N., Kumar, S., Parang, K., Sharma, S. K. Synthesis and evaluation of c-Src kinase inhibitory activity of pyridin-2(1H)-one derivatives. Bioorganic Chem. (2014) 53, 75-82.; Pemmaraju, B., Agarwal, H. K., Oh, D., Buckheit, K. W., Buckheit Jr. R. W., Tiwari, R., Parang, K. Synthesis and biological evaluation of 5'-O-dicarboxylic fatty acyl monoester derivatives of anti-HIV nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Tetrahedron Lett. (2014) 55, 1983-1986.; Ghasemi Pirbalouti, A, Sajjadi, S. E., Parang, K. A Review (Research and Patents) on jasmonic acid and its derivatives. Arch Pharm (Weinheim). (2014) 347, 229-239.; Motavallizadeh, S., Fallah-Tafti, A., Maleki, S., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Pordeli, M., Safavi, M., Kabudanian Ardestani, S., Asd, S., Tiwari, R., Oh, D., Shafiee, A., Foroumadi, A., Parang, K., Akbarzadeh T., Synthesis and evaluation of cytotoxic activity of substituted N-(9-oxo-9H-xanthen-4-yl)benzenesulfonamides. Tet. Lett. (2014) 55, 373-375.; El-Sayed, N.S., Shirazi, N. A., El-Meligy, M. G., El-Ziaty, A. K., Nagib, Z. A., Parang, K. Synthesis of 4-aryl-6-indolylpyridine-3-carbonitriles and evaluation of their antiproliferative activity. Tetrahedron Lett. (2014) 55, 1154-1158.; Yoon, Y. K., Ali, M., A., Wei, A. C., Choon, T. S., Osman, H., Parang, K., Shirazi, A. M. Synthesis and evaluation of novel benzimidazole derivatives as sirtuin inhibitors with antitumor activities. Bioorg. Med. Chem. (2014) 22, 703-710.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Oh, D., Tiwari, R. K., Sullivan, B., Gupta, A., Bothun, G. D., Parang, K. Peptide amphiphile containing arginine and fatty acyl chains as molecular transporters. Mol. Pharmaceutics (2013) 10, 4717-4727.; Suresh, N., Nagesh, H. N., Sekhar, K., V. G. C., Kumar, A., Shirazi, A. N., Parang K. Synthesis of novel ciprofloxacin analogues and evaluation of their anti-proliferative effect on human cancer cell lines. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. (2013) 23, 6292-6295.; Shelke, G. M., Rao, V. K., Tiwari, R., Chhikara, B. S., Parang K., Kumar A. Bismuth triflate-catalyzed condensation of indoles with acetone. RSC Adv. (2013) 3, 22346-22352.; Pericherla, K., Poonam Khedar, P., Khungar, B., Parang, K., Kumar, A. Copper catalyzed tandem oxidative C–H amination/cyclizations: Direct access to imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines. RSC Adv. (2013) 3, 18923-18930.; Mandal, D., Tiwari, R. K., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Ye, G., Banerjee, A., Yadav, A., Parang, K. Self-assembled surfactant cyclic peptide nanostructures as stabilizing agents. Soft Matter. (2013) 9. 9465-9475.; Pericherla, K., Nasrolahi Shirazi, Rao, A. V. K., Tiwari, R., DaSilva, N., Mccaffrey, K. T. Seeram, N., Parang, K., Kumar A., Synthesis and antiproliferative activities of Quebecol and its analogs. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. (2013) 23, 5329-5331.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Tiwari, R. K., Oh, D., Sullivan, B., McCaffrey, K., Mandal. D., Parang, K. Surface decorated gold nanoparticles by linear and cyclic peptides as molecular transporters. Molecular Pharmaceutics. (2013) 10, 3137-3151.; Kumar, A., Rao, V. K., Tiwari, R., Chhikara, B. S., Shirazi, A. N., Parang, K. Copper triflate-mediated synthesis of 1,3,5-triarylpyrazoles in [bmim][PF6] ionic liquid and evaluation of their anticancer activities. RSC Adv. (2013), 3, 15396-15403.; Chand, K.; Shirazi, A. N.; Yadav, P.; Tiwari, R. K.; Kumari, M.; Parang, K.; Sharma, Sunil K. Canadian Journal of Chemistry (2013) 91, 741-754.; Chand, K., Tiwari, R. K., Kumar, S., Shirazi, A. N., Sharma, S., Eycken, E. V. V. D, Parmar, V. S., Parang, K., Sharma, S. K. Synthesis, antiproliferative, and c-Src kinase inhibitory activities of chromone derivatives. J. Heterocyclic Chemistry (2013) DOI 10.1002/jhet.2106.; Kumar, A., Ye, G., Gu, X., Wang, Y., Sun, G., Parang K. Synthesis of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives and evaluation of their Src kinase inhibitory activities. Chemistry & Biology Interface (2013) 3, 264-269.; Kameshwara Rao V., Shelke, G. M., Tiwari, R., Parang, K., Kumar A. A simple and efficient synthesis of 2,3-diarynaphthofurans using sequential hydroarylation/Heck oxyarylation. Org. Lett. (2013) 15, 2190-2193.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Tiwari, R. K., Brown, A., Mandal, D., Sun, G., Parang, K. Cyclic peptides containing tryptophan and arginine as Src kinase inhibitors. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. (2013) 23, 3230-3234.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Tiwari, R. K., Oh, D, Banerjee, A, Yadav, A, Parang, K. Efficient delivery of cell impermeable phosphopeptides by a cyclic peptide amphiphile containing tryptophan and arginine. Mol. Pharm. (2013) 10, 2008-2020.; Cao, C., Rioult-Pedotti, M. S., Migani, P., Yu, C. J., Tiwari, R., Parang, K., Spaller, M. R., Goebel, D. J., Marshall, J., Impairment of TrkB-PSD-95 signaling in Angelman syndrome, PLoS Biology, (2013) 11, e1001478.; Chand, K., Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Yadav, P., Tiwari, R. K., Kumari, M., Parang K., Sharma, S. K. Synthesis, antiproliferative and c-Src kinase inhibitory activities of cinnamoyl- and pyranochromen-2-one derivatives. Can. J. Chem. (2013) 91, 741-754.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Tiwari, R. K., Chhikara, B. S., Mandal, D., Parang, K. Design and evaluation of cell-penetrating peptide-doxorubicin conjugates as prodrugs. Molecular Pharmaceutics (2013) 10, 488-499.; Agarwal, H. K., Chhikara, B. S., Bhavaraju, S., Mandal, D., Doncel, G. F., Parang, K. Emtricitabine prodrugs with improved anti-HIV activity and cellular uptake. Molecular Pharmaceutics (2013) 10, 467-476.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Mandal, D., Tiwari, R. K., Guo, L., Lu, W., Parang, K. Cyclic peptide-capped gold nanoparticles as drug delivery systems. Molecular Pharmaceutics (2013), 10, 500-511.; Beni, Y. A.; Parang, K. Synthesis and thermal stability evaluation of six-membered cyclic triphosphates containing three nucleotides. 65th Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Atlanta, GA, United States, November 13-16, 2013, SERM-204.; Parang, K. Peptide nanostructures as molecular transporters of anticancer agents. 16th Annual Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Scientific Retreat, Palm Springs, CA, November 15-16, 2013.; Nasrolahi Shirazi, A., Parang, K. Cyclic peptide-capped selenium nanoparticles as molecular transporters. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013, BIOL-147.

Dr. Keykavous Parang

Biography

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications

Faculty Directories by School or College